This shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone anymore, but Draymond Green played a key role in helping the Golden State Warriors take a 2-0 lead against the New Orleans Pelicans with a 97-87 victory on Monday in Oracle Arena.
Green, who has been instrumental all season long for the Warriors on the defensive end of the floor and is a strong candidate to win this year’s DPOY award (although you’d never know it if you were listening to Charles Barkley on TNT), was tremendous on both ends of the floor with 14 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block. Anthony Davis scored 26 points to go with 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks, but was held to three-of-12 shooting from the field when guarded by Green.
In two games against the Pelicans thus far, Green is a team-leading +47.
Also of note: he rolled his left ankle twice in the first half of Game 2 after rolling it in Game 1 – not that it has stopped him any.
The power forward is expected to be paid handsomely over the summer when he becomes a restricted free agent, and there has been plenty of talk about whether he will earn a max contract. After watching his latest performance, Bill Simmons appears to be on board with the idea:
TNT should have interviewed Draymond after this one – he was unbelievable. That was a max contract game by him.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) April 21, 2015
Green, however, gave most of the credit for the team’s turnaround (they were down for much of the first half) to the bench unit, who provided a much-needed spark on both ends of the floor – a contrast from Game 1. Still, you can already sense in the early going that the Warriors are here to stay for the long haul in these playoffs as long as Green is wreaking havoc for as long as Steve Kerr will allow him to be out there.
Jim Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.